There is an increasing usage of water soluble polymers and copolymers in wastewater treatment industries. These compounds have shown desirable utility for the purpose of dewatering sludge and clarifying contaminated water.
The efficacies of the polymers or copolymers used will vary depending upon the type of monomers chosen to form the polymer or copolymer, the molecular weight of the synthesized molecule and, in the case of a copolymer, the placement of the selected monomers on the backbone of the copolymer. It is the latter characteristic that is the focus of the present invention.
Copolymers may be synthesized without attention to the distribution of the two base monomers along its backbone resulting in a random distribution of these monomers. Synthesis may be controlled, however, to form a copolymer having long sequences of monomers, e.g. A and B, as follows: EQU --AAAA--BBBB--AAAAA--BBBBB--
This formation results in compounds referred to as block copolymers.
Block copolymers exhibit unique properties and as a result are more desirable than random copolymers or a blend of the two homopolymers synthesized from the respective monomers. The industrial importance of block copolymers has increased markedly in recent years for these reasons.